Coldplay adopts interceptor 005 to clean Malaysia's river

KUALA LUMPUR: British band Coldplay has yet to perform in Malaysia but it is about to treat the country to something even greater - by sponsoring a watercraft that removes plastic trash from our rivers.

The band has long been proponents of green initiatives and is now looking to stop garbage from reaching the ocean with the Interceptor 005, a machine built by Dutch non-profit organisation The Ocean Cleanup.

"Without action, there could be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050, which is why The Ocean Cleanup's work is so vital. We're proud to sponsor Interceptor 005 which will catch thousands of tons of waste before it reaches the ocean," it said in a statement recently.

This will be the second Interceptor to be deployed to Malaysia after the first one was received in August 2019 and placed in the Klang River.

This latest interceptor is locally-built in partnership with Finnish firm, Konecranes at their MHE-Demag facility in Bukit Raja, Klang and is expected to catch up to 100 tonnes of trash, especially plastics, daily.

The Ocean Cleanup founder and chief executive officer, Boyan Slat said Malaysia is the first to receive the Interceptor 005 which is the first of two produced for series production and the first of the third-generation design, to tackle the world's 1000 most polluted rivers worldwide.

Also known in production as Neon Moon 1, the Interceptor 005 which is currently under construction will be completed in mid-2021 and will commence operations soon after, he said in a statement.

According to Slat, plastic wastes in the ocean eventually travels to ocean garbage patches where debris naturally accumulates in a vortex of circulating currents.

Since plastic wastes can stay in the slow-moving whirlpools for years, lack of action to prevent pollution will increase the adverse impact on the ecosystems, health and economies.

Since 2019, The Ocean Cleanup has announced its Interceptor solutions for heavily polluting waterways in countries around the world including Indonesia, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, USA, Jamaica and Thailand.

-- BERNAMA